Veggie without Borders

© flickr.com, Marco Bellucci

Vegetarianism has a long tradition in the human collective consciousness. It may seem like a trend which emerged in the last years, but bothering about the source of one's food is actually quite older than that.

So here's a short summary about famous six popular persons who are known being or having been vegetarian, or have at least expressed some thoughts on the topic.

Buddha

There are different interpretations of the description of Buddha's food. Some followers like the Mahayana school believe he consumed meat and that he only found it wrong if a living being was purposely killed for the eater. Well, this is actually true in most cases - since it is rather rare to find a freshly dead animal on the way. So according to the interpretation, one may conclude that Buddha kept a vegetarian diet.

Leo Tolstoy

© flickr.com, Strijdklaar47

He regarded giving up meat as a step on the way to leading a better, moral life and the growing number of vegetarians (in 1892!) as a sign of the "moral progress of humanity". I'm quoting here a part of an essay that particularly impressed me.
"This is dreadful! Not the suffering and death of the animals, but that man suppresses in himself, unnecessarily, the highest spiritual capacity—that of sympathy and pity toward living creatures like himself—and by violating his own feelings becomes cruel. And how deeply seated in the human heart is the injunction not to take life!"
Preface to a Russian translation of Howard Williams' The Ethics of Diet, 1892

Hitler

© Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-S33882 /  CC-BY-SA 3.0

OK, I admit I was kind of surprised to read this. I thought that being a vegetarian could make you a better person, but I guess I was totally naive, once again. Anyway, as far as Hitler is concerned, he only became vegetarian in his later life, somewhere between 1937 and 1938. According to the transcripts of Martin Bormann, Hitler even said: "One may regret living at a period when it's impossible to form an idea of the shape the world of the future will assume. But there's one thing I can predict to eaters of meat: the world of the future will be vegetarian." Crazy, huh? I leave you with the assimilation of this information.

Paul McCartney

© Wikimedia Commons,  United Press International, 1964

Paul and his wife Linda became vegetarians in 1975. He engaged himself a lot for the idea and participates in a number of campaigns to promote a meatless diet and animal protection. This is also true for his daughters, Stella and Mary.
In an interview with PETA, he said: "People say to me: Don't you miss a traditional sausage? I say: No way! I would never go back" [watch it here]

 

Natalie Portman

© By gdcgraphics, CC BY 3.0

She's vegetarian since she was a child and later became also a vegan. We don't hear much about it, but she even designed a vegan shoe collection. It wasn't very successful and some celebrity magazines define it as a "flop" and compare it to Hulk Hogan's pasta restaurants, which I find very superficial. I doubt she expected any profit from the vegan shoes - but at least she tried to gain some publicity for the topic and promote what she believes in.

Christine Lagarde

© International Monetary Fund

There's not much to find about Lagarde's diet or beliefs - but it's known that she abstains from meat. According to Forbes, she's one of the most powerful women in the present. Here's a quote from Тhe Washington Post, 30.10.2014, where she explains how she manages to keep her vegetarian diet even at official dinners:
"[Washington Post reporter] I’ve read that you’re a vegetarian and and eat very healthfully — how do you pull that off that when you go to dinners like this all the time?
[Lagarde] My staff does a great job of alerting people that I don’t eat meat, but if they’ve forgotten or the people seating me have forgotten, I just put the meat aside, cover it with salad, and pretend that I have really enjoyed my main course."

One of the questions I have heard most often since I took the decision to exclude meat from my diet, has been:

So... what do you eat? 

© pixabay, janua2000

I think it's too sad that so many people ask that question. It means that, in their minds, meat is the key ingredient of every meal. If you leave it out, in your plate remains only the salad.
Here's my answer: here's what I buy most often in the market. I hope it serves as a good example how salad and fruits aren't the only food vegetarians eat. And neither are soy-based products!





To be more precise, I decided to feature here two of my favorite recipe blogs, which I always check if I need an inspiration.

Oh my veggies
The link sends you to the page "Are you new to vegetarianism?" - it combines a lot of different recipe collections. If this index doesn't convince you that vegetarian food is rich in variety, then nothing could...

Green Kitchen Stories
The recipes have a narrative form, accompanied by beautiful photos which make me want to dive into the kitchen and cook something delicious and colorful.

Here are some figures about vegetarians in the United States, I always find it interesting to compare how people think in the different regions of the world. So there are nearly 14% of the population who follow a vegetarian or a mostly meatless diet. Comparing it to the stats from my previous post, it's very similar to Germany, where the "mostly vegetarian diet" group are called Flexitarians.

   
Source:LiveScience

What often strikes me when I look at such numbers, is the fact that only about one half of the vegetarians have animal welfare and environmental concerns as a main motivation. Judging by the people I know, it should be much higher. But then again, I don't know any American vegetarians, so I cannot speak about their reasons.

A common point here and in Germany is the gender structure: women are responsible for around 60% of the vegetarian group. There's just thе common perception among men that eating meat, if possible a lot of it, is a proof of manhood. Come on, people don't live in caves anymore and men don't have to hunt animals to provide meat. It's funny how some cultural concepts can persist so long.

Since Bulgaria is my home country, I decided to write about it first. The traditional Bulgarian food belongs to a broader category, namely the Balkan cuisine. Although each of the Balkan countries has its specifics, you'll surely find a lot of stuff which can be applied to most of them, for example Serbia, Macedonia, Greece etc.

Shopska salad © Wikimedia Commons, Zhelyazkov

I remember Mark Ruffalo's "veggie nightmare" when he had to film a movie in Serbia and could only eat Shopska salad. Sadly, I can also say that traveling to the Balkan as a vegetarian might not be an easy task. Depending on where exactly you go and what you expect, you might experience difficulties... But knowing more about our culture, cuisine and current developments can help you immensely! (which is true for most places in the world and the reason I'm starting this series)

Sofia & the big cities

There's plenty of vegetarian alternatives in big cities like Sofia and it shouldn't pose any problem to avoid meat there. Most of the vegetarian/vegan (friendly) restaurants are normally situated in the central part of the city - "fast food" like Supa Star or "slow food" like Dream House. In the area around the streets of Graf Ignatiev and Ivan Shishman, you will find many other nice options.

Fast food

Banitza © Wikimedia Commons, Eugene Zelenko

Fast food is fatty by definition and combined with the Balkan cuisine, which sometimes overuses oil, butter and other kinds of animal fat, it could really make you sick. The most popular fast food is pizza, döner kebap and McDonalds. They are present everywhere.

If you want to avoid that, you can try some traditional alternatives - there are bakeries offering different kinds of refreshments and sandwiches, as well as the most popular food in Bulgaria: Banitza (Баница)! It's a kind of a pie filled with a mixture of cheese, eggs and yoghurt, so it's totally not vegan! There are even special bakeries for that and some of them can be very good. But you could often encounter the problem of the overuse of fat...

In Sofia, there are also many Subway restaurants, which I find a good option in the case you want to eat something tasty, without meat and in the same time not fatty. I know also about one in Burgas - the second biggest city at the Bulgarian seaside, so I'd expect it to have spread in many other big cities, as well.

Restaurants

Stuffed peppers   © Wikimedia Commons, Zserghei

Modern restaurants like pizzerias always have some vegetarian options. It could be more difficult with traditional ones or those at the seaside. Many of them offer soups, salads and omelettes. I'd highly recommend trying the Tarator soup in the summer, because it's very refreshing!
Beans and lentil soups are also very typical.

Traditional restaurants could also offer grilled, baked or fried vegetables with sauce, this can be very tasty, depending on the cook. Typical are zucchini, eggplant or peppers. Some of them you might also find in a version stuffed with rice. Be sure to ask if there's no meat inside in this case, since rice could be mixed with mince.

What you should absolutely try, if you go to a typical Bulgarian restaurant, are stuffed cabbage or vine leaves. It's delicious!

Shopping

Bulgarian restaurants aren't too expensive for people coming from Western countries. But if you're staying longer or traveling on a restricted budget , then you'll probably go shopping.

The best place to buy fresh produce is a traditional market, because there's a variety of choice there. You can ask your hosts if there's one nearby. If you don't care or don't have time for that, a supermarket might do as well - tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, zucchini, carrots and eggplants are among the most popular vegetables. If you're lucky enough to be in Bulgaria in the late spring or in the summer, you'll find many regional fruits like strawberries, cherries (May and June), apricots, peaches, melons, watermelons, plums... You'll know you have to buy it when you pass by and sense a fresh and sweet smell! With melons, you can try to check the ripeness by knocking on them. If it feels hollow, it should be good!

A very typical and delicious food that you can find in every supermarket is Liutenitza, which is similar to the red pesto or to ajvar, a paste made of peppers and tomato. But it's at the same time completely different! It's good to eat it with bread and white cheese. Add some nice olives - there you have an easy and delicious lunch!

Writing this article, I found this blog - it may help you, too. 

So there's really no need to worry, the Balkan people won't "tear you vegetarians to pieces and eat you" :) There's plenty of vegetarian food for you out there. If you experience difficulties, just ask people. As we say in Bulgaria, asking can take you as far as Constantinople - which means, all the way through the Balkan.

Sooo... in my opinion, frozen is a good alternative. Frozen peas are better than canned peas and certainly much better than no peas at all. But for most vegetables and fruits, I would prefer the fresh alternative, given the choice.

You can read the article of the study in German here:
Fleischkonsum in Deutschland